Over the last few years, Further Education colleges in North Wales have been delivering a range of training opportunities to private companies, part-funded through the European Social Fund (ESF).

Many of you reading this may well be one of the 7,500 employees who benefitted from the training which was delivered to 1,700 companies.

The final independent evaluation report concludes that the project has generated a net increase in the overall take-up and delivery of workforce development training and broadened the range of training opportunities undertaken by individual employers and participants.

We know only too well that confusion over whom to contact for initial information and advice on training is a real issue for employers. The evaluation report highlights the fact that the one-to-one support offered by the employer engagement team has been welcomed and guided employers towards the training they need.

As one employer noted: “they provided a very local, informed opinion and suggested courses I would never have thought of attending”.

Flexible provision is likely to become increasingly important if the training needs emerging from future transformational economic projects are to be met.

More specifically, with the emerging job opportunities in the Construction, Energy and Engineering sectors locally, we were pleased to see that employers in this sector were the most satisfied with the match of training to needs.

In terms of impact, a significant number of employers said that they had recorded an increase in the number of commercial contacts won, business turnover and profitability as a direct result of the training.

Examples include a self-employed gardener who has seen an increase in income and a hotel, which as a result of customer service training, has seen an improvement in its online scores and ratings, crucial to continued growth and profitability. The biggest impact is that it has ensured continued investment in training and therefore increased the pool of workforce skills in the area.

Pleasingly, 95% of employers surveyed said that they were ‘very’ or ‘quite likely’ to invest in developing the skills of their workforce in the future. A key consideration moving forward will be the extent to which we can continue to stimulate employer demand for skills whilst moving towards a financially sustainable skills system for the region.

As the largest Further Education college in North Wales, we continue to provide training and development opportunities to support the local economy, either in the workplace or from college locations.